Sharon McSwiney

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2010-03-29T22:56:00.001+01:00

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Blog problems

2010-03-03T12:51:00.005Z

Hello there.....

As some of you will be aware there are some issues at present with those of us who publish our blogs via FTP - I'm not sure what it's all about but Techno Tim my computer guy says from 26th March I'll no longer be able to publish my existing blog & we'll have to copy it over & archive the old stuff?

As I have just tried to put some pictures on of my new card designs with no success I may well go a bit quiet on the blog front until it's all sorted??

I have just set up a Facebook account so will keep that up to date....there are the new cards on there plus lots of my Caribbean pics!

www.facebook.com

Felix & Tim the new arrivals

2010-03-01T18:46:00.005Z

Yesterday we visited Danemere Animal Rescue near Droitwich 'just to have a look' at the cats available.....

We can home a couple of hours later with 2 more cats!!!!!

Both of them had been in the wars & are minus a leg each...they had been attacked by dogs in seperate incidents. The rescue centre wanted them to be homed together so we brought them home with us!

Felix - he's not too sure about it yet! He's 18 months - 2 yrs old a real softie but slightly freaked out at the moment

This is Tim - who we'll have to refer to as Timmy otherwise Tim (hubbie) will get confused! He's about 8 - 10 months old & very playful & affectionate.

Beautiful Taboo is sulking a little as she is not sure who these 2 new fellas are! We are hoping they will become friends eventually.....?

The Danemere Animal Rescue centre was great & they were so pleased we could give Felix & Tim a home. They have lots of dogs for rehoming to & sometimes rabbits. I think we need to stop now though as 3 cats & a large bunny is probably enough!!

http://www.danemerepetotel.co.uk/

Puffin brooch

2010-02-27T12:30:00.004Z

I've had a few requests for a puffin brooch to go with the earrings I made last year...

So here is the little fella....made in oxidised silver he measures approx 35mm x 35mm

I hope he proves as popular as the earrings.

The other new jewellery designs I have been working on should be completed in the next couple of weeks. They will of course appear on here first! Hopefully doing some work on the shop part of my website during March as it is soooooooooooo out of date!!! Some of the items will be discontinued & lots of new things added to make it easier to add to your collections????

Commission pendant

2010-02-27T12:08:00.002Z

I had a last minute commission to produce a 'pinky' colour pendant yesterday.

I've just varnished the pieces & the customer is coming in later today to select one.

The one pendant has an etched copper decorative surface & the other I've fused a silver wire onto the surface. The colour is then obtained by the heating process.

I hope the customer likes one of them?.....

Caribbean Colours!

2010-02-26T12:31:00.009Z

Hello!

Well back in the studio today after my lovely sunny holiday cruising the Caribbean....

Thought some of these fabulous colours might brighten up a dull grey day???

Holidays!!!!

2010-02-09T15:49:00.003Z

So tomorrow I'm off on a rather relaxing holiday with my mum.......to catch some sunshine, chill out & recharge the batteries.

Poor hubbie Tim is being left to look after the studio in my absence so normal opening hours over the next couple of weeks. I'll have to make sure I bring him back a good prezzie to make up for leaving him behind & missing Valentine's Day!

Mother's Day Designs

2010-02-09T15:32:00.003Z

As Valentine's is nearly upon us I thought I'd plan ahead & get my Mother's Day designs prepared..... I'm printing these on the cream card like the Animal Alphabet etc. I might go back & introduce some pink or orange areas at a later date. At least I have some to put on the shelves after the weekend!

2010-02-03T12:25:00.002Z

Meet Taboo our new friend!

We collected her from the Cats Protection on Monday afternoon. It's so lovely having feline company at home again - even at 4am when she decides she wants a cuddle!

We might change the name Taboo yet we're waiting to see what becomes appropriate?

We are hoping to adopt a second puss but she is not very well at the moment so it might not be for a while. Keeping fingers crossed x

New Etching Artwork Designs

2010-01-30T12:00:00.005Z

I've just completed the artwork for some new etching. These will be photo-etched in brass & copper then used for my greetings cards. I thought it was about time I introduced some new designs to the range although the old favourites do still seem to be popular. I'm really looking forward to getting the first batch of metal versions delivered in the next few weeks.....

SALE ENDS SATURDAY

2010-01-28T10:35:00.006Z

*******SALE*******

I have decided to continue my little 'sale' at the studio until this weekend. Although it feels like it's been going on too long....because of the awful start to the year with the ice & snow I thought I'd carry on for a few more days. I'm itching to have a move around and put out my Valentine display next week.

There are still some bargains to be had... £5 items of jewellery....cards @ £1....pictures @ £10 & £25...

*********************

Rowan leaf commission

2010-01-28T10:28:00.004Z

I've just completed this metalwork plaque commission this morning. This piece is to celebrate the imminent birth of baby 'Rowan' for some very good customers.

I saw-pierced the leaf in brass & then textured the surface with a punch to impress 'veins'. This was then soldered onto a copper background & took several attempts to get the right colour as it was quite a large piece of metal.

I hope they will be pleased with the results.....

Torquil Ceramic workshop part 2

2010-01-28T10:12:00.004Z

Last Saturday was the second part of the Torquil pottery workshop in Henley in Arden. This time we were decorating our creations with oxides & glazes before leaving them in the capable hands of Carey Moon & Jayne Lucas for firing. I can't wait to see the finished articles! I just hope they survive in the kiln OK?

It's been a lovely experience to work with the paper clay & meet some really interesting people. I also took the opportunity to purchase some more pieces from Jayne for the gallery. These will be on display very shortly.

Printing with Sue Brown

2010-01-26T10:11:00.003Z

On Friday last week I went over to see my friend Sue Brown in her lovely garden studio in Cheltenham. Although I did not do any printing on this occasion, I've made a set of 4 'plates' to use next time. These were created using a combination of tile cement, wallpaper & pva glue! It was great just to see Sue as she is always so inspired which I hope rubs off a little on me.... I'm going back in March to have a go at printing them.

New jewellery patterns

2010-01-21T20:27:00.005Z

Today I've been working on my new jewellery 'masters' in the bunny studio. Duke the rabbit was very happy as I had the heater in there so he probably thought it was spring!

This is the first stage of production so they are not finished yet - cleaning & filing to be done, then moulds made...

Watch this space to see more details in the next few weeks.

Sorry that the studio has been closed this week so far...

Tim will be opening tomorrow (friday) & Saturday then back to normal next week.

Source book inspiration

2010-01-19T21:33:00.008Z

I'm trying to keep myself busy.........

So this evening I've finished off one of my 'source books'. I've produced these sort of scrap books since college so I have quite a library of them now! Unfortunately there never seems to be enough time to devote to doing them these days and the pile of cards, photos, magazine cut outs just seems to grow & grow......

This year I'm going to make a real effort to sort out some of the paper!

It's really amazing when you look back at things from years previously & then find inspiration from different elements.

What I really need is a whole room to devote to this project so I could spread all the stuff over a wide area & select the images which go together.....yes in an ideal world.....

These are just a few of my favourite pages from the most recent book:

GRUMBLE sadly missed

2010-01-19T11:21:00.004Z

Yesterday was very hard as we said goodbye to Grumble our dear friend for 20 years.

She was a very strong character which many friends & family will know & have scars to prove it!! Grumble sadly passed away yesterday evening at home with us - I think she had just had enough. The house seems very empty without her & it's going to take some time to get used to not seeing her around....

She had a long & happy life and I'm glad that we were able to share it with her for so many years.

Torquil Pottery Workshop

2010-01-18T09:23:00.002Z

I had a great day on Saturday taking part in a ceramics workshop at Torquil Pottery in Henley in Arden. I had booked the course as a Christmas present to myself. I thought working with clay would make a nice change from hard metal surfaces! I was most interested in the work of Jayne Lucas (who I stock in the studio). She uses something called paper clay which is basically a paper pulp mixed with a powder clay, then mixed with water. The paper obviously burns off during firing. The mixture gives great flexibility to the material.

The first piece I made was a 2D bird plaque inspired by Lisa Larson. I used some of my etched metal pieces to create patterns in the paper clay surface.

Then I surprised myself by doing some 3D vessels! With these pieces I have embossed the patterns into the paper clay surface before rolling the piece up to form a cylinder. I then 'squashed' it to make more of an oval shape & attached a base.

So these are being left to dry for a week & then next Saturday we will decorate the pieces with glazes! I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished results....

METALWORK COURSE

2010-01-14T15:47:00.003Z

The past few day's I've been in discussion regarding running a metalwork course in the Cotswolds later in the year. This has now been finalised & you can now go ahead a book a place. I have specified that the number of participants be redistricted to 10 so places are limited! Take a look at the website for more information......

www.cotswold-artstudio.com

http://www.cotswold-artstudio.com/sharonmcswiney.asp

Date for your diary.....

October 23rd & 24th

10am - 4.30pm

Condicote Village Hall nr Stow on the Wold

New jewellery designs

2010-01-14T10:42:00.003Z

So yesterday I was at home again...managed not to get distracted by Ebay & did designs for some new pieces of jewellery. I'd had some rough sketches done for a while but have now finalised the designs a bit more. I find the pieces develop as you start to make them up in metal so I'm never completely sure of the final design.

I think these creatures will fit into my current ranges quite well. Frogs always seem to be a popular motif & the squirrel is just a bit bonkers! I thought the swan would be good for Worcester as we have so many on the river here. These will all be brooches but I'll also make the smaller frog design as earrings. I plan to make the puffin which I did in the autumn last year as a larger version for a brooch as I've had a couple of requests.

Watch this space for further developments....I plan to start the metal versions today.

Badge Bonanza!

2010-01-13T11:28:00.003Z

Following on from the buttons.......

After some searching of the attic & garage mum finally located my badge collection from the 70s & early 80's. I'm not sure how I obtained all these sports badges as I'm not keen on anything too athletic now!!! Looks like some of them might have been through the washing machine????

I think these must have been my mum's??

Very retro!

Always a cat fan...

Sue Firmin Artwork

2010-01-13T11:19:00.002Z

Yesterday Sue Firmin delivered my fabulous painting which I'd purchased at her recent exhibition at Number 8 in Pershore 'Where Land Meets The Sea'. This exhibition has now finished but you can view Sue's work on her website http://www.suefirim.co.uk/

I'm really pleased with the piece & I'm hoping to add to the collection in the near future!

Indian Inspirations

2010-01-13T10:42:00.004Z

This time last year we were on our Indian Adventure! Hard to believe it was 12 months ago... I'm remembering the lovely warm weather as I look out onto the snowy scene here (again!!). Anyway I've had a little rummage through some of the goodies we bought back....

I love the colours & textures - not sure what I'll do with the 'jewels' yet but they are beautiful.

I'll certainly be watching Slumdog Millionaire this evening as part of C4 Indian Winter feature!

VALENTINE CARDS!

2010-01-12T14:29:00.003Z

Valentine cards are now in production!!

More Buttons.....

2010-01-12T10:48:00.007Z

Although I was rather sloth like on Sunday I did manage to finish stitching my green & blue buttons onto labels to complete another picture. In addition to the more subtle colours of the first collection completed last year, I wanted to do further selections of my favourite buttons! So I now have arrangements of pink/red/orange hues plus the green/blue/turquoise versions.

Some of the buttons I remember from particular coats & jackets belonging to my gran.

I think the rest of Gran's buttons will stay in the tins until I come up with another idea!! Although I have now started my own tin - it may take some years to have enough to create anything with them?